Acquired but not Required?: the Gap between the Competency in Education and That in Action for School Librarianship

Abstract

This study confirms the gap between the competency of “school librarian” in education and that in action. The authors carried out the semi-structured interviews with eight persons who had experience of working as a school librarian. The authors asked them whether they thought that it was necessary to learn the competency in the list made by authors, and whether they utilized that at their works. As a result, most of the competencies was required at work, moreover, it was necessary to learn in education. According to their answers, the authors recognized following things. Firstly, there was little need to learn some competencies in the categories of library management and organization of materials. Secondly, the competencies about history, other types of library and school librarianship of foreign countries should be learned in education, though those were not utilized at work. Thirdly, the competency of pedagogy should be added to the list.